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The Australian government is trying to lure Indian skilled workers to its shores, according to the Australian High Commissioner for India.
"India is the second largest source of skilled migrants to Australia and we want this number to increase," said Australian envoy Peter Varghese.
He said the Australian government will organize a promotional campaign in India during 2012 that would target Chandigarh, Punjab, and other cities in northern India.
Varghese said that Australia wanted to enhance relations between his country and India. He also said that 300,000 people of Indian origin are living in Australia, with a majority from Punjab.
Varghese talked about the upcoming changes to Australia's General Skilled Migration program which may make it more difficult for some people to qualify under the popular points based immigration system.
"Our new migration program will be more demand driven rather than supply driven," he said, but was quick to add that the rules would not target any particular group of migrants.
Varghese said that the rules would not place any restrictions on applicants based on their country of origin.
